Implicações do sharenting no livre desenvolvimento da personalidade: mecanismos de tutela de crianças e adolescentes no ambiente digital para além de uma dimensão interindividual

Abstract

The objective of this paper is to analyze the impacts of the overexposure of the image and personal data of children and adolescents on the Internet by parents or legal guardians. To this end, based on the assessment of specific cases that reveal their multiple facets, this research analyzes the best interest of the child, the theory of disabilities provided for in the Civil Code of 2002 and the children’s and teenagers’ personal data treatment with the analysis of article 14 of the Brazilian General Data Protection Law. This paper investigates three main types of relationship (or context) in which privacy is important and the children’s rights and the concept of risk provided for in the European Union Artificial Intelligence Act. Although the phenomenon of sharenting seems to be restricted to the actions of fathers, mothers and relatives, the collectivization of the practice is essential in order to understand the complex dynamic that lies beyond the autonomy of individuals, which is inserted in a context of an economy centered on personal data and the business model created from them, with digital platforms being particularly relevant actors in this scenario. This research analyzes new vulnerability factors arising from electronic commerce and the use of platforms and the commercial exploitation of children and adolescents. Finally, it seeks to examine repressive and preventive protection mechanisms to ensure a full, absolute and priority protection of childhood in the digital universe, beyond an interindividual dimension. In order to do so, it investigates the proposals and laws already approved in France, as well as the bills currently pending in Brazil, the enactment of Law 15.100/2025, among other initiatives. In addition, it examines the obligations of States, the responsibilities of digital providers and the importance of the Brazilian Public Prosecutor’s Office to prevent abuse. Although it is difficult to control, combat abuses of sharenting have become an urgent need.